
QassJ: 



Book_-JlifL 



Tia::E ^oxcm oif Tmn -rotd. 



A SERMON 



PREACHED ON THURSDAY, JUNE 1, 18G5, 



^t B* iorli %kmu lixMnm (Cljurtb, 



WASHINGTON, D. C, 



The Rev. P. D. Gurlev, D. D., 



PASTOR OP THE CHMROH. 



WASHINGTON, D. C. : 

WILLIAM BALLANTYNE, BOOKSELLER. 

1865. 







898 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



Washington City, June 1, 1865. 
Rev. P. D. Gurley, D.D.. 

Kev. and Dear Sir : At a meeting of the congregation to which you 
minister, it was, on the motion of Brig. Gen. Eaton, seconded by Maj. 
Gen. Casey, unanimously 

Ecsolrcd, That the officers of the New York Avenue Presbyterian 
Church be directed to request for publication a copy of the able and 
singularly appropriate sermon delivered by our pastor, the Rev. P. D. 
Cxurley, D. D., on this the day appointed by the President of the United 
States as one of "humiliation and prayer." 

The undersigned, officers of the New York Avenue Church, of Wash- 
ington, saddened by the event — the assassination of our honored Chief 
Magistrate, the late President Lincoln — which has made ours a nation 
of mourners, and cordially endorsing the suggestive teachings which you, 
as our under shepherd, called us in that connection this day to consider, 
hasten to execute the expressed wish of your people, whose representa- 
tives we are. 

Hoping that you will, at an early day, place a copy of your discourse 
at our disposal, that the important truths it contains may be more widely 
disseminated, we are, very sincerely, your brethren, 

JAMES P. TUSTIN, 
J. McKENNEY, 
JNO. M. McCALLA, 
F. A. TSCHIFFELEY, 
J. V. A. SHIELDS, 
• JOS. A. DEEBLE, 
WM. L. WALLER, 
CHARLES STOTT, 

Elders. 

JAS. B. MUNRO, 
GEO. J. MUSSER, 
CAREY GWYNNE, 

Deacons. 
WILLIAM McLEAN, 
JOSEPH W. NAIRN, 

D. McClelland, 

Trustees. 



REPLY. 

Washington, June 3, 1865. 
To the Elders, iJeacons, and Trustees of the Neio York Avenue Presby- 
terian Church . 

Dear Brethken : Your kind note, requesting for publication a copy 
of the sermon preached by me on Thursday last, is before me. I yield 
to your judgment, and to the judgment of the congregation you repre- 
sent, touching the propriety of giving the discourse to the public in a 
printed form, and send j^ou a copy herewith, according to your request. 
May the blessing of God attend it, is my sincere and earnest prayer. 
What thrilling and momentous events we have recently been called to 
contemplate! What a sore and sudden bereavement we have recently 
been called to bear! God speaks to us as He never spoke before. Let 
us study the lessons He is teaching us, study them prayerfully, and lay 
them to our hearts. 

Truly your friend and pastor, P. D. GURLEY. 



SEPaiON. 



" Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it." — Micah, vi, 9 

God is a father. He stands iu that relationship to us. When we 
approach Him as suppliants, He permits us to say " Our Father 
who art in heaven." He performs towards us and for us the j^a^t 
of a father — and oh, how wisely and well does He perform it ! 
He gives us food and raiment, shelter and protection, counsel and 
guidance, education and discipline, comfort and blessing. Nay, 
more: He gives us the rod of correction when we go astray; 
gives it for our good, that He may remind us of our sins, re- 
claim us from our wanderings, and incline us to walk more care- 
fully and steadily in the way of his commandments, which is the 
way of life and peace. The rod of correction and chastening — 
our heavenly Father holds it in his hand, and He uses it betimes 
for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. His 
ancient people, in the midst of their waywardness and wander- 
ings, felt that rod fi*om time to time — felt it often and severely — 
and as they suffered beneath its heavy inflictions, this mandate 
came to them from heaven : " Hear ye the rod, and who hath 
appointed it." We, the people of this land, have felt that same 
rod ; we, too, have felt it often and severely ; we have felt it re- 
cently — how keenly we have felt it! — we feel it to-day; and as 
ice bow, and weep, and suffer beneath its heavy inflictions — per- 
haps, I should say, beneath that latest and heaviest infliction of 
all, the death of our lamented Chief Magistrate — the mandate 
which comes to us from heaven is this : " Hear ye the rod, and 
who hath appointed it." The rod, then, is not a thing of chance. 
It is an appointment — an appointment of God. It is applied in 
his own time, which is the best time, and in his own way, which 
is the best way. The great national afiiictiou which brings us 
here to-day did not come forth of the dust ; the trouble that so 



suddenly turned our gladness into mourning did not spring out 
of the ground. It was the ordering of Him whose throne is in 
the heavens, and whose kingdom ruleth over all. He appointed 
the rod that smote us so unexpectedly. He struck the blow that 
has clothed the nation in sackcloth. And we may depend upon 
it that our views arc not right to-day, and our feelings are not 
right, unless we are prepared to look through and beyond all the 
second causes that operated in the case to the great First Cause, 
and to say from our very hearts, " It is the Lord. The Lord 
gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the 
Lord." The text, moreovei", suggests that the rod of correction 
is also a rod of instruction. It has a voice. It speaks. It teaches. 
It proclaims timely lessons of wisdom and of warning, which we 
are to consider and lay to our hearts. " Hear ye the rod," says 
the Spirit of inspiration. Hear what it says. It is the voice, as 
well as the hand, of God. While it smites it instructs. While 
it bereaves it enriches. While it terrifies it also testifies. And 
they that are wise will study its testimony, and understand it, and 
derive such a blessing from it as will induce them to say in the 
end, ''It is good for us that we have been afflicted." 

It is ray simple purpose to-day to set before you, and urge you 
to remember and improve, some of the lessons of wisdom and 
warning which the chastening hand of God is now teaching us. 
" Thar ye the. rod." And what is its language, its teaching, its 
clear and impi-essive testimony ? I answer — 

1. The rod of chastening which we feel to-day teaches us to 
nck-noiclcdge and adore the sovereignty of God, He has smitten 
us in a way and in such an hour as we thought not. Our late 
President, by his administrative career of blended wisdom and 
enei'gy, promptitude and patience, justice and mercy, had greatly 
endeared himself to all the loyal people in the land. We had 
learned to admire, and love, and ti'ust him. During four stormy 
and perilous 3'ears ho had guided the ship of state so cautiously 
and well that we desired to continue him at the helm for four 
additional years ; and we felt that, having such a pilot, we should, 
with the blessing of God, outlive the tempest and anchor at last 
in tranquil waters, where the winds and waves of rebellion should 
disturb and imperil us no more. Our eyes and hearts were 



turned to liim. His integrity commanded our confidence, and 
his wise and timely utterances stimulated our patriotism and in- 
spired our souls witli hope. " May he live to the end of his 
term — live till the wounds of the nation are healed," was the 
silent prayer of our hearts. But Grod's ways are not as our ways, 
and His thoughts are not as our thoughts. In His wise and 
mysterious providence He permitted a conspiracy to be formed 
against the life of the nation's head, and He permitted the pur- 
pose of the conspirators to be executed. The plan was carefully 
laid, the time appointed, the place chosen, the means of escape 
prepared, and,, when all things were ready, the fatal shot was 
fired, and he whom the nation delighted to trust and to honor, 
bowed his head, languished in utter unconsciousness for a few 
brief h6urs, and then he was a corpse. Never did the wires of 
the magnetic telegraph convey so sad a message to the people of 
the land as was conveyed on that memorable morning. They 
heard it, and were filled with horror; they considered it, and 
wept in silence. They were so troubled that they could not 
speak. They met one another upon the street, clasped hands, 
burst into tears, separated, and returned to their homes to weep 
there. " The victory that day was turned into mourning unto 
all the people ;" and as they looked through their tears, with 
trembling hearts, to heaven, they could only say, " How un- 
searchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out." 
And surely this must be our feeling and our language to-day. 
As we review the events of that terrible Friday night, that night 
of horrors, and then look around us and see the nation clothed 
in mourning, and then remember that long funeral procession 
that bore the remains of our murdered Chief to Springfield, and 
then feel that our bereavement is a reality and not a dream, that 
he is verily gone, and we shall see his face no more, it must 
needs be that we acknowledge and adore the sovereignty of Grod, 
and that we understand as we never understood before the force 
of such Scriptural records as these : " Our God is in the heavens j 
He hath done whatsoever He pleased." " He doeth according to 
His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the 
earth ; and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest 
Thou '/" '' How great are His signs ! and how mighty are His 



wonders !" '' Clouds and darkness are round about Him; righteous- 
ness and judgment are the habitation of his throne." It is said 
that when the multitudes were looking upon the remains of our 
departed President in Philadelphia, a venerable and intelligent 
colored won an came up, and having gazed for a moment upon the 
faded form as it lay silent and lifeless in its coffin, she clasped her 
hands in agony, while her tears were flowing fast, and exclaimed 
with a loud voice, " 0, Abraham Lincoln I Are you dead ? Are 
you dead ?" You may imagine, if you can, but I cannot under- 
take to describe the effect of this exclamation upon all who heard 
it. Many a time within the last few weeks have we all felt as she 
felt, and our hearts, if not our lips, have said, " 0, Abraham Lin- 
coln! Are you dead? Are you dead?" Yes, he is dead; and 
his death has plunged us into the lowest depths of sorrow. But 
our affliction is from God. '' Shall there be evil in a city, and the 
Lord hath not done it ?" "What saith the High and Lofty One in 
these Lively Oracles? "I form the light and create darkness; I 
make peace and create evil ; I, the Lord, do all these things." And 
again He says : " Hear the rod, and who liatli appointed it." In 
several different places, as we pursued that sad and never-to-be- 
forgotten journey to Springfield, did I see this touching and appro- 
priate inscription : " Be still, and know that I am God " — showing 
that under the pressure of sorrow the people were recognizing 
and adoring the Divine sovereignty. Let us do the same to-day. 
While we weep, let us bow and worship, and say to Him who has 
smitten us, " We know, God, that Thy judgments are right, 
and that in faithfulness Thou hast afflicted us." Has the rod a 
voice ? Does it speak ? Does it teach while it smites ? Sure 
am I that a part, and an important part, of what it teaches us is 
this : " Be still, and know that I am God." 

2. The rod of chastening which we feel to-day teaches us the 
duty of depending upon God icith an exclusive and an ahiding 
confidence. Perhaps we were leaning too much upon our wise 
and patriotic President. Perhaps our devotion to him and our 
confidence in him were rendering us too unmindful of that High 
and Holy and Mighty One in whom are all our springs, and with- 
out whom we can do nothing. In the flush and joy of victory, 
perhaps we forgot to acknowledge Him as we ought, to praise Him 



as we ought, and to ask Him to be with us and help us to the end. 
We rejoiced, but not with that trembling which became us in 
view of our weakness, our wanderings, and our sins. We needed 
something to arrest, and solemnize, and humble us — something to 
lead us to feel as we had never felt before, and to acknowledge as 
we had never acknowledged before, that the favor of God, even 
after the battle had been fought and the victory won, was our only 
security. And what we needed we received. The rod of chasten- 
ing fell upon us suddenly, fearfully — and behold, the man to 
whom we had extended so much of our confidence, and upon 
whom we had centered such large and lively hopes, was no more. 
It was a gloomy, an unlooked-for. a momentous, a perilous crisis. 
And to whom could we go but unto Grod ? How helpless 'We felt I 
how utterly in the hands and at the disposal of an overruling 
Providence ! What a realizing sense we had in that hour of our 
perils and our dependence I With humility, as well as grief, we 
bowed before the Majesty of heaven, and every one of us said, 
with deeper, stronger emotions than we had felt before, even in 
the darkest days of our civil strife, 

" Bly spirit looks to God .alone ; 
My rock aud refuge is Ids throne ; 
lu all niy fears, in all my straits, 
5Iy soul on liis salvation waits." 

So we felt when cmr trial first came, and, I trust, the solemn ser- 
vices and remembrances of this day will but deepen and intensify 
the feeling of utter dependence upon God in every one of our 
hearts. Let us revert a moment to the history of the past. When 
the war was opening, and our chosen leader was entering upon 
hi§ grave and responsible duties, he recognized his dependence 
upon God and solicited an interest in our praj-ers. And what did 
we do ? AVe bore him earnestly and often before the throne of 
mercy upon the arms of faith and love. All the .loyal and pray- 
ing people in the land sent up their petitions for him day and 
night with earnestness and tears Never before was any Presi- 
dent so remembered and prayed for in the closet, the sanctuary, 
and around the family altar; and never before was any President 
so sustained, and guided, and made a blessing to his country, to 
liberty, to the world. He lived till the war was over and the 

2 



victory gained, and then his work was done. And now another 
stands in his place, to gather and preserve the legitimate fruits of 
victor}'-, to repair abounding desolations, and re-establish our 
lately imperilled nationality upon a sure and enduring foundation 
— a foundation of liberty and righteousness, of unity and peace. 
And what can we, what should we do for him ? Just what we 
did for his distinguished predecessor. Acknowledge his depend- 
ence and the nation's dependence upon God, and bear him up to 
God day and night by faith and prayer, that an arm more than 
human may sustain him, and a wisdom more than human may be 
his guide. Yes, we must begin again now, just as we began four 
years ago, by looking earnestly and prayerfully to God, and we 
must continue now, just as we continued through the long and 
bloody strife, looking earnestly and prayerfully to God, and we 
must plead now for the new Pi-esidcnt just as we pleaded for the 
late President, that God will furnish him for his mission, and 
spare him till it be accomplished. And, if I mistake not, this is 
a part of the teaching, the message, which comes to us to-day as 
we weep in the furnace of trial. '^ Hear ye the rod," my breth- 
ren. It speaks — speaks to the nation — speaks to us. And what 
is its testimony ? It says, " Cease ye from man, whose breath is 
in his nostrils ; for wherein is he to be accounted of ?" Ttsays, 
" Trust ye in the Lord forever : for in the Lord Jehovah is ever- 
lasting strength." It says, " Cast thy burden upon the Lord, 
and he shall sustain thee." It says, " Continue in prayer." It 
says, " Still acknowledge your dependence upon God, and still 
commit the nation, with its rulers, and people, and all its precious 
interests, unto Him, and He will fikish the work of deliverance, 
and ordain peace, and continue to do great things for you whereof 
you shall be glad." It is even so. Unless we have studied the 
matter to no purpose, the rod of chastening which we feel to-day 
is teaching us renewedly the duty of depending upon God and 
waiting before Him as suppliants with an exclusive and an abid- 
ing confidence. 

8. Again, the rod of chastening which we feel to-da}' suggests 
to us that ivhcn a great mission is to be accomplished /or God and 
humanity, it is sometimes necessary that he who accomplishes it 
shoidd also seal it icith his hlood. History is full of illustrations 



11 



of this thought. We refer you to two or three : Abel had a ' 
mission to acoamplish-r-a momentous mission. It was to exhibit, 
in the infancy of the world and to all the subsequent ages, the 
great doctrine of justification by faith in the blood of atone- 
ment — the great truth that there is no acceptance for sinners' 
with God unless they come to Him in the name and through the 
merits of Him who is the divinely appointed sacrifice for sin, 
wounded for their transgressions and bruised for their iniquities. 
He understood this principle; he embraced it; he adhered to it 
in the face of peril and persecution. But this was not enough. 
It was necessary that he should seal it with his blood. 
He did so seal it; and that sealing gave it an impress of power 
beyond the ability of man to estimate. John the Baptist had a 
mission — ^a momentous mission. It was fo prepare the way of 
the Lord, to tell the Jewish people their sins, exhort them to 
repentance, baptize them with water as a symbol of needed 
spiritual purification, and proclaim in their hearing, " He that 
cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not 
worthy to bear. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and 
with fire." He performed his duty, performed it boldly, earn- 
estly, and well. But that was not enough. It was necessary 
that he should seal his mission with his blood. He did so seal it; 
and that .sealing gave it an influence over the minds and hearts 
of men which it could have derived from no other source. 
Stephen hatl a mission— a moiiifintous mission. It was to testify 
for Christ iiiJerusalem, and before the Jewish Sanhedrim. It 
was to defend the inauguration of the new, the Christian dispen- 
sation, and show that the teachings of the Apostles respecting it 
were in exact and beautiful harmony with all the teachings of 
God, and all his dealings with the Church from the beginning. 
He bore his testimony boldly, faithfully. But that was not enough. 
It was necessary that he should seal it with his blood. He did so 
seal it. And who shall tell us how much that sealing had to 
do with the subsequent spread and triumph of the gospel? All 
the Apostles had a mission — a glorious mission of power, and 
love, and blessing to the world. They told the story of the cross; 
they proclaimed the character and urged the claims of the 
Crucified in the hearing of Jews and Gentiles; they besought 



12 



men in Christ's stead to be reconciled to God; they were fearless 
and faithful in all their ministry, and they shunned not to 
declare unto sinners " all the counsel of God." But that was 
not enough. They, too, must seal their mission with their blood. 
^yith perhaps a single exception they did so seal it. And 
who shall tell us how much that sealing had to do with the 
renowned and subsequent victories of Christianity in every part 
of the Roman Empire ? All the martyrs of the early Church had a 
mission — a blessed mission. They also were witnesses for Christ. 
They loved Ilini, they honored Ilim, they clung to Him, and they 
could not deny Ilim. But that was not enough. They must seal 
their testimony with their blood. Thoy did so seal it. And the 
effects of that sealing were so beneficent and abounding that it 
soon became a proverb in Zion, " The blood of the martyrs is 
the seed of the Church." It was precious seed; God blessed 
the springing thereof, and it yielded a long succession of harvests 
to the praise of the glory of His grace. In all these ipstances 
the sealing of blood completed the antecedent mission of truth 
and love, sanctified it, crowned it with glory, and made it precious, 
memorable, and powerful forever. Is not the same thing true, 
manifestly true, in the case of our murdered President? He, 
too, had a mission — a momentous mission; a mission for liberty, 
for humanity, for his country, and his God. God raised him up 
for it, prepared him for it, gave him wisdom and energy, and 
firmness and patience to accomplish it — permitted him to see the 
end of the war, the end of slavery, and the dawning glories of a 
brighter and a better day. But that was not enough. He, too, 
must seal his mission with his blood. He did so seal it. And 
that sealing has sanctified it, crowned it with glory, and made it 
precious, memorable, and powerful forever. That sealing attaches 
sanctity now to all that he ever said and did for the cause of 
truth and justice, of law and order, of liberty and good govern- 
ment. It imparts a new power to his example and life, uev/ 
interest to his speeches and proclamations, a new value to every 
principle he announced and defended ; and it inspires every 
patriotic heart in the land with a new and a firmer resolve that 
the Republic shall live, and that its bondsmen shall be free. 
Nay, more : that sealing has attracted the gaze and moved the 



13 



heart of the world. Surrounding nations have seen it, and while 
their sympathies are aroused for a weeping people so suddenly 
Ijereft of their wise and honored head, they will not forget the 
cause for which he died. They will now consider the claims of 
that cause as they never considered tliem before, and judge be- 
tween it and its enemies as they never judged before, and rejoice 
with us, that though our President is dead, liberty survives, and 
our national life is secure. Many eyes in distant lands are turned 
in tearful sympathy to-day towards that new-made grave iu 
Springfield. They will be turned there for years and years to 
come 5 and we may well say, as we gather in imagination arouud 
that loved and lonely tomb, 

"This consecrated spot shall be 
To Freedom ever dear; 
And Freedom's sous of every race 
Shall weep and worehip here." 

Many hearts in distant lands are with us to-day as we mourn our 
martyred Chief, and they unite with us in the petition, 

" Grant that the cause for which ho died 
May live forevermore." 

And if it be true, my hearers, that the blood of our assassinated 
President is the seed of liberty and truth, and that our loss is 
gain to the cause he loved and served so well — then, while we 
mourn to-day, we should not murmur, and, while we weep, we 
should not complain. " Hear ye the rod ;" and remember one of 
its lessons is, that icJien a great viission is to be accomplished for 
God and Immanify, it is sometimes necessary, in order to secure 
the largest and lest resxdts therefrom, that he u-ho accomplishes it 
should also seal it tcith his blood. 

4. Again, the chastening rod which we feel to-day suggests to 
us tchat is the real, tendency/, and ichat are the diabolical cajpa- 
bilities and achievements of that combined spirit of treasoti and 
slavery icith ichich ice have been contending for the last four years. 
We have seen it strike at the life of the nation with a malicious 
and a persistent vigor that filled us with wonder. We have seen 
it madly bent upon the overthrow, at any and every cost, of the 
mildest and best government the world ever saw. We have seen 
it, for this very purpose, inaugurating and cruelly protracting a 



14 



war tliat has filled the land with mourning. We have seen it 
chanting the praises of slavery and declaring it to be the great 
mission of the South to keep four millions of human beings, with 
their descendants, in bondage. We have seen it cursing and de- 
nouncing and laboring to desti'oy a Union of States, which, under 
God, has placed us in the foremost rank of free and prosperous 
nations. We have seen it commissioning incendiaries to burn 
our largest cities in the night. We have seen it leaving our iin- 
fortunate and sufieriug prisoners without food and shelter till 
they died, or sending them back to us in such a condition, physi- 
cal and mental, that it were a relief to see them die. And now 
at the last we have seen it cap the climax of all its crimes and 
atrocities by assassinating the man whose lips and life were vocal 
with the utterance, " With malice towards none, with charity for 
all." It is enough. The blindest can see now, and all the world 
can see, that the spirit with which we have been contending is 
the very spirit of darkness and of the pit of darkness. It began 
with perjury and theft; it culminated in murder; and now, a 
spectacle and a horror to the world, its true character revealed, 
and its infernal origin and destination demonstrated, nothing re- 
mains for it but a few expiring struggles and a death that will fill 
both earth and heaven with joy. Thanks be to God who has 
given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ ! Thanks be 
to God that the blow which prostrated the President was the last 
desperate effort of a defeated fiend, who, having failed to kill the 
nation, could only kill the nation's head, and thereby render his 
own destruction the more sure and speedy. " Hear ye the rod." 
It unmasks the enemy with which we have been contending, re- 
veals the fearfulness of the perils we have escaped, the value of 
the victory we have won, and bids us look up to-day and say to 
the God of our salvation with hearts deeply and tenderly thank- 
ful, " Not unto us, Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give 
glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake." 

5. Finally, the rod of chastening which we feel to-day suggests 
a lesson touching the character and influence of the theatre, which 
we should note and remember. It will always be a matter of deep 
regret to thousands that our lamented President fell in the theatre ; 
that the dastardly assassin found him, shot him there. Multitudes 



15 



of his best friends — I mean his Christian friends — would have 
preferred that he should have fallen in almost any othet place. 
Had he been murdered, in his bed, or in his oflSce, or on the 
street, or on the steps of the Capitol, the tidings of his death 
would not have struck the Christian heart of the country quite so 
painfully ; for the feeling of that heart is that the theatre is one of 
the last places to which a good man should go, and among the very 
last in which his friends would wish him to die. Little or nothing 
has been said upon this subject in the pulpit or by the religious 
press; but it is one of the eases in which silence is more expressive 
than words, and, therefore, I shall say no more. T ask you, how- 
ever, to consider this : when a murderous conspiracy has been 
formed, and the assassination of the President has been resolved 
upon, and the conspirators are looking for a suitable person to 
perform the dreadful deed, to strike the fatal blow, or fire the 
fatal shot, where do they find him ? Who is the man they select ? 
To whom is the dark and hellish work committed ? To a man 
schooled and' trained in the fhea/re. He is just the agent suited 
to the occasion, just the bold, and daring, and practiced actor, 
who can steal behind his victim, skilfully lodge the fatal bullet 
in his brain, bound quickly and adroitly away, stalk defiantly 
across the stage, brandish a dagger, shout ^'Sic semper ttjraU' 
nis,''' and mysteriously disappear. Just what we might ex- 
pect from such a character, trained in such a place, maddened 
with disloyalty, heated with liquor, and M.secZ to the exciting and 
tragic scenes of the theatre. Surely a place where such men are 
trained and fitted for such atrocious deeds of death is not a proper 
resort for you, my hearers, or for those you love. For my own 
part, I have always regarded the theatre as in the main a school 
of vice and corruption — the illumined and decorated gateway 
through which thousands are constantly passing into the embrace 
of gaiety and folly, intemperance and lewdness, infamy and ruin. 
I have always hated and avoided it, and taught my children to 
avoid it, on account of its character and influence, its associations 
and accompaniments, its misleading, corrupting, and demoral- 
izing tendencies; but henceforth it will be more odious to me 
than ever before. Jlay it be odious to you. I deem this a suita- 
ble occasion to lift my voice against it, and to exhort you to num- 
ber it from this day forth among the polluting, perilous, and pro- 




hibited places where you and your children must never be found. 
And as for yonder building stained with the blood of him for 
whom the nation mourns to-day, let Aceldama be written upon 
its walls, and let it stand for years to come as it now stands, 
silent, gloomy, forlorn, more like a sepulchre than a place of 
amusement, saying to all the passers-by, " Here the greatest crime 
of the age was committed, and 'committed by one who was ad- 
dicted to tragedy and had made the stage his home." 

And now, having considered some of the lessons which God is 
teaching us hy the voice of the rod, let us unite in the prayer that 
these lessons may be sanctified and made a blessing to us all. 
May they be sanctified to rulers and people, to all the people, to 
all our rulers from the highest to the lowest, so that we shall be 
the better and not the worse for our sudden and sore bereavement. 
What wo need now, and what the whole country needs, is an in- 
fluence from above — a season of refreshing from the presence of 
the Lord. This, more than anything else, will heal alienations, 
soften down asperities, lead the guilty to repentance, bege£ in the 
hearts of all a spirit of kindness and conciliation, of forgiveness 
and love, and hasten that blessed day when revolted States shall 
return to their allegiance, and we shall be once more a united and 
happy people. We have received a baptism of blood, copious, 
protracted, tei'rible ; that it may be followed, and that right 
eai-ly, by the precious and purifying baptism of the Holy Spirit. 
" Come, Holy Spirit, come " — come to every heart and habitation 
in the land, and do us the good we need. Brethren, join me to- 
dayWn the prayer of the Pi'ophet and of Inspiration : " Lord, 
revive Thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the 
years make known ; in wrath remember mercy." " Wilt Thou 
not revive us again, that Thy people may rejoice in Thee V 
" Return, Lord, how long ? and let it repent Thee concerning 
Thy servants. satisfy us early with Thy mercy, that we may 
rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad according to the 
days wherein Thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we 
have seen evil. Let Thy work appear unto Thy servants and Thy 
glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our 
God be upon us; and establish Thou the work of our hands upon us ; 
yea, the work of our hands establish Thou it." Amen and Amen. 



